


But you never go away (so I guess I gotta stay)

by denouement



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/F, Mild Angst, Spoilers for Season 5, with a happy ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-05-19
Packaged: 2020-03-06 10:30:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18849238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/denouement/pseuds/denouement
Summary: Sara had been plagued by replaying that scene her mind had come up with back in the diner the other day everyday, again and again, every time she got a quiet moment. She needed to know how she had come up with that woman. How her mind could create that smile and those eyes and that body.OR,The last four years of the Legends' lives gets erased. Sara now has to deal with all these moments she keeps remembering, not knowing if they're real or not.





	But you never go away (so I guess I gotta stay)

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so i kinda needed to get this out of my system after the news we got the other day about s5 to properly function and also to go back to my other fic. I wasn't really gonna post it, I just threw the idea out there, but apparently a lot of people on twitter wanted to read this now too, so, here it is, I guess. I in no way actually think this is what's gonna happen next season, but here we are going with the idea that they did erase the last four years and everything the legends changed. 
> 
> As always, mistakes are mine, and you can find me on twitter @cptnsaralance
> 
> Title is from Lovely by Billie Eilish and Khalid, I'd suggest listening to it while reading this.

She opened her eyes and lazily stretched. Her bed felt way too big and the sheets a little too cold. Sara was laying on the right side and she really had no idea why, because she usually slept right in the middle of it. It gave her more moving space during the night, in case she had a nightmare. She had fallen from beds way too often because of moving too much to not be prepared now.

She got up, and went to the bathroom across from her bed, not even bothering with putting some clothes on. She looked at the clock before entering, and saw that it was still 2 AM. _Good, that way no one will interrupt my shower._ _They all sleep way too much._

The fact that there was no one else in the room with her, or anyone else who could interrupt her night time routine in the middle of her solo trip to Brazil never even crossed her mind.

* * *

When she got out of the shower, she went in front of the bathroom mirror to brush her hair. She had to decide what she was gonna do with it. If she left it down, it would help cover more of her face, but also get in the way during a fight. Or she could just put it up in her usual bun. This had been one of her biggest dilemmas for the past four years and she still hadn’t settled on an answer.

Sara actually had made a point to keep her life like this now. She went out at night, patrolled the streets, beat up a few criminals, made the city she was in a bit safer, and during the day she would work at wherever she had to make ends meet - usually retail. And then, she would move on to another city in 6 months, and start it all over again.

That had been her life for the past four years, and that’s how she was gonna keep it. She still didn’t trust herself to be around her family or her friends. Yes, it had been a while since she was brought back to life, a while since her bloodthirst had settled, but it still came out to play sometimes. The amount of criminals she had left on the brink of death before she managed to pull herself back was more than enough testament of that.

She was still plagued by the nightmares of her past mistakes. And for as long as she remembered, nothing could keep them at bay. So she made sure to sleep alone, in the middle of the bed so she wouldn’t fall on the floor, or wake anyone screaming. Last time she had brought a girl over and let her sleep the night, Sara had to wake up to her looking terrified by her screams. It had been enough for an entire lifetime.  

She sent them eventual updates – her family, that is. Every time she moved, every important date, or when she saw something that reminded her of home. It used to happen quite often, in the beginning. In the first two years it was as if every step she took reminded her of something she was missing, something that should be there but now wasn’t. She could never put her finger on it. It was a feeling, sometimes a sound, sometimes a smell. Something that she had to remember but wasn’t quite there. But they had gotten less and less frequent with time, until she had to actively remind herself to send a text or a photo.

That is, until she moved this last time. She had never been to this part of South America before, but since she set foot there, a week ago, it was as if wave after wave of _déjà vu_ was slowly hitting her. Sara didn’t know what it was that was suddenly making all these disconnections appear again within her mind, but it was as if her memories were suddenly all… glitching.

She shook her head to chase these ideas away. She was starting to get tired of herself with her thoughts being so cyclical and being stuck on senseless things. There was no point in keep going on and on about this. Her life was what it was, there was no point in trying to look for something else. She looked back at the mirror and started doing her hair up in a bun. _Practicality it is for today_.

She looked down at her body and stopped to _really look_ at it  for the first time in a while. She didn’t usually pay much attention to it, not in this sense. Yes, she liked having a nice figure, but the amount of scars and memories they brought up were something else she didn’t enjoy bringing to the forefront of her mind. So mostly, she looked at herself in the mirror when she was covered up, or avoided looking at her back, where the biggest scars were.

This time, however, Sara turned around to look at her back scars. She didn’t like them, it’s true, but they were also something that kept her grounded. Throughout all her lows, all the times she wanted to give up and go back, wanted to give in and just stay somewhere for a while and maybe forge a new life, her scars were there, physical reminders why she couldn’t. Why she couldn’t put others around her in danger, why she needed this lonely existence.

She traced the lines on her back till she couldn’t touch them anymore and kept tracing the rest with her eyes on her image in the mirror. Her mind was suddenly assaulted with images of lips tracing them, and the memory of the sensation made her shiver. She closed her eyes to try and keep the sensation there, to try and prolong it, but just as suddenly as the feeling came, it was gone. She just turned around to leave the bathroom, with a deep sigh. This was getting out of hand.

She put on her Black Canary suit, opened her bedroom window and climbed down the two stories as fast as she could, as to not alert her neighbors to her identity.

* * *

Sara cleaned the blood coming out of her mouth in a hidden corner of the street. She rubbed her bruised and bloodied knuckles against her leather pants and slowly walked out of the alleyway.

The way the cities were built and the architecture around here was very different from what she had back home and she was having a hard time adjusting. She had already gotten lost twice during the day going to her job, and now, looking around her she had no idea where she was. She guessed the 24 hour diner across the street from where she was would have to do at the moment, till she found a way back or morning came.  

She took off her mask, stuffed it in her jacket pocket, pulled her hair down and then did a high, messy ponytail. Closing her jacket, she guessed she was good enough to go without being discovered. _Had been a while since I did this_ , she thought with a smile, just to then stop cold.

Because it hadn’t been a while. It hadn’t even been long. Last time she had done this had been in Spain, less than ten days ago, before coming here. The details might be a bit hazy for anything that happened before her first night here, but she was sure that was probably just the amount of alcohol she had been consuming. She chose to ignore the fact that she hadn’t had a drop since she got here.

She walked into the diner, her mouth set, shaking her head. She had no idea what the fuck was going on with her brain, and she was not about to find out. If it turned out to be something seriously wrong with her, she didn’t really wanna know about it beforehand. She had to carry enough around already to keep bringing something like this along with her too.

She sat on the stool in front of the counter and flagged down a waiter. She pointed at her order on the menu once she arrived, not bothering to use her broken Portuguese to ask just for a tea and a sandwich. She already had a hard enough time sleeping without drinking a cup of coffee at almost 5 AM. She closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against her hand for a second, but her mind was immediately overcome by a scene she couldn’t quite place.

“ _You know tea also has caffeine in it, right? And that it doesn’t really work like that, Sara…”_

_The blonde woman’s laughter rang around her and Sara felt like her smile lit the entire room._

_“Well, yeah, babe, what am I gonna drink, though? Milk? That shit’s disgusting.”_

_They both laughed as she finished making her cup of tea. She walked over to the woman and slowly kissed her lips._

Before her mind could continue this journey into whatever fantasies it was trying to conjure and tell her whatever it was, the waiter put her cup of tea and her sandwich down and smiled at her. Sara did her best to smile back and say a small thank you. She ate and drank as fast as she could, trying to hum along to the song on the radio and to not think about the very specific scenario her mind had come up with. She needed to get back to her one bedroom apartment as soon as possible.

Why, she wasn’t really sure. It’s not like she would be able to sleep with her mind coming up with all these ridiculous notions of…

What? What was it that her mind was conjuring? A girlfriend? A partner? Did she really want something stable - a real life, someone to be with-  so bad, that her mind was coming up with things?

Maybe she just needed to get laid.

Yeah, that was probably it.

She was gonna change that the next night, then.

* * *

It didn’t happen the next night. It actually didn’t happen for a while, Sara got quite busy as the criminal life seemed to somehow start to become aware of her existence, so her nights out started to become more extensive and bloody. She hated when it got to this part. It usually took a while longer for it to get to that point. It also meant that soon, she’d have to move on, or she’d end up dead in a ditch, if she wasn’t careful.

What did happen was that a week later Sara dreamed of a futuristic spaceship and faceless voices talking around it. The voices echoing through the hallways, but she never managed to make clear any of them or what they were saying. She also had no idea who they belonged to, but they felt oddly familiar. Once she woke up she chose to completely ignore both the dream and the nostalgic feeling she had in the pit of her stomach when she tried to remember it more clearly.

Her days, however, went by completely uneventful. She was currently working as a receptionist at a hotel, due to the fact that she spoke quite a few languages. She preferred it to working at some sort of department store, to be honest – just that thought alone made her skin crawl. The pay was way better and she was separated from the public by an entire desk, so there was no chances of anyone getting way too close and personal with her.  She absolutely hated it, though. She couldn’t stand the creepy old men, or the amount of people that asked her if she wanted to go out with them for whichever reason it was.

Sometimes she did accept them, though. There was this one guy the week she arrived that invited her to this fancy restaurant that she had found out about on her first few days in the city, that she was dying to try out but couldn’t yet with her very limited budget. So when he offered to take her on a night out in the town, she took it. If they ended up sleeping together afterwards, who was to count, right? It was not like she had anyone to answer to. If there was a nagging feeling in the back of her mind telling her to not do it, she told it to shut up with every touch and every kiss.

She had also started looking for any woman with golden locks now. Tall, skinny, with long, blonde hair. She couldn’t help it. Sara had been plagued by replaying that scene her mind had come up with back in the diner the other day, everyday, again and again, every time she got a quiet moment. She needed to know how she had come up with that woman. How her mind could create that smile and those eyes and that body.  

She kept searching her memories for any accompanying moment to that one. Any other scene that could help her figure out what exactly was going on, why exactly her mind had provided her with it and if it truly was all made up. Because the more she thought about it, the less she thought it possible to be just her imagination. It was way too specific, the warm laughter, the incredible feeling deep in her chest every time she remembered it. There was something wrong with her mind and how it was just creating these things, of that she was sure.

So she looked. She knew she wouldn’t just figure out what was going on, but she could at least try to find the woman. Sara looked, even though she was sure the woman would probably be back home. She did speak English, after all. But, for the third night in a row she had picked a random blonde women, who not even remotely reminded her of the blonde woman in her fantasies, just to appease her own restless thoughts. Each time less satisfying than the last, and each time she felt more and more desperate. Something had to give, and soon.

But still, she kept going like that. Work during the day and picking up women during the night, to then go out and play vigilante. Her sleep hours had been reduced to a max of five per day and she was thriving on two meals and lots of caffeine. Well, thriving maybe wasn’t the best word for it.

So, that night, for the first time since she arrived there, she just went back to her apartment and decided to sleep. She had never been this careless with herself, and she was not about to start now. She deserved some proper rest. Not only deserved it, but she needed it to keep pulling all these stunts she was trying to pull. There was no way she was going to manage to keep her night activities up when half of the city was after her if she didn’t properly take care of herself. So she took the night off. Maybe she’d even take two.

Sleep was exactly what she needed so her mind would stop pulling tricks on her.

* * *

_Sara was running and running and running. There were boxes around her, with a woman’s face on them - the woman from her previous dream - but she couldn’t stop to properly look at them, since the lights around her were going out, one by one. She didn’t really know why, but she had to get to the end, she had to get out of here, and go get… Something. Someone._

_She heard herself scream and next thing she knew a door appeared behind her. A big sign written “As If” in bold, neon colors hanging over it. She made her way to it and walked through without a second thought._

_She found herself at a department store on the other side, something resembling an Ikea. She looked around the furniture and there, in a corner, hunched over, crying, was the woman from her memories._

_“Ava”_

_Sara couldn’t remember the last time her voice had sounded so relieved. She slowly made her way to the woman and crouched in front of her, putting her hands on the woman’s knees._

_The woman, however, was looking at her as if she couldn’t figure out what she was doing there. A bunch of emotions seemed to be going through her mind, all quickly showing on her face, and leaving just as suddenly. Fear, shock, amazement, confusion were the ones clearest to Sara in that moment. It amazed her how well she could read this woman, and still she had no idea why she could even do that._

_“But you could’ve chosen any one of those other women...”_

_“I don’t want other women.”_

_The woman – Ava – started to try and explain herself, refuse what Sara was saying, try to give her a reason to choose someone else; so before she could do it, Sara leaned forward, put her hands on her face and kissed her. It was tender and sweet and so, so full of hope. It was unlike anything Sara had ever experienced. This, she realized, was what love felt like._

* * *

_Ava_

That was her first thought once she woke up the next day. That was the woman’s name. She finally had a name to put her face to. Now she knew what to call her, who to go after, if she ever decided to do so.

“Ava” Sara said, to the quiet of the room. It didn’t feel unfamiliar on her lips. In fact, it felt very much like coming home. Like a sound she heard a long time ago, and she now realized was all she had been missing.

That entire scene had felt so real, even if a little magical. She had no idea when that had happened, or how she ended up in there, but she was now more sure than ever that these were memories and not just senseless fantasies her mind was making up. How, why and when were all things that were plaguing her nonstop now.

She couldn’t even begin to fathom the answer to any of these questions. She had clear memories of every moment of her life. The last four years were particularly hazy at some points, but overall she could clearly remember every single one of her experiences, all that she had done, all that she had tried, all the times she had succeeded and all the times she had failed. She liked to think of them all as what made her get this far, but now she had to question everything.

She hadn’t even moved from the place where she woke up on the bed. This… this was not good. If she truly wasn't aware of which memories were truly real anymore and which were made up, how could she even be aware of who she was? What had happened that made this a reality?

She could feel a headache coming, and the more she thought about it, the worse it got. Sara was feeling as if her mind had suddenly been left with these empty spaces and her brain was trying to come up with something, anything to cover up the holes. She could now - besides the two scenes and the odd dreams she had - think of a few voices, some random faces that didn't fit in with everything else, but she was not sure what was real and what was just her brain supplying her with something, anything it could come up with.

Sara needed to do something about it soon. If she started thinking about it, she’d never get out. She’d be stuck here, she’d spiral and last time she spiraled things were… not good. She had spent three months just drinking herself to sleep and contemplating all her failures and how to move on with her life when she knew how much of a monster she was. Right after she had gotten her soul back. _How do you even know if_ that _was real, though, Sara?_

She didn’t. And that was why she got up and started packing all her things as fast as she could. In this sea of uncertainty, if there was anyone that could help her center herself and separate what was real from what was not, it was her family.  So that’s where she was going now.

She was going home _._

* * *

When Sara arrived in Star City she was surprised by how everything looked the same, but different at the same time. The buildings were the same, the sky was the same, and so was the air. But there was something she couldn’t quite put her finger on. It was as if everything didn’t fit quite right, as if there were just these spots where something was supposed to be and it wasn’t.

Much like it felt with her mind at the moment.

She shook her head and looked out of the window of the Uber. From the last update she had gotten from Laurel she still lived in the same place, she was hoping she’d be there now. She could be out, being the Star City’s Black Canary, but Sara was hoping she wasn’t.

Every time she thought about Laurel, however, it was as if her mind short circuited for a second. Her heart would squeeze painfully and she’d hold her breath, unconsciously. Only to then release it and keep going normally, as if nothing had happened. Her hand automatically shot to her neck as if to look for something there, a necklace, maybe, but there was nothing.

Sara frowned. She didn’t know if she was realizing this now because she had finally accepted that something was going on with her brain or if this was a new development. She decided it was better to decide on which one it was once she saw Laurel. Talking to her would probably make everything clearer.

Soon enough, Sara arrived there. She got off the Uber, got her bags and entered the building. She didn’t really want to admit, but she was feeling extremely anxious to meet Laurel now. The way up to her apartment seemed to last hours instead of just seconds. The doorbell and her knocks on the door seemed to keep ringing and ringing in her ears in the next few seconds. Even her own breathing was becoming heavy and erratic. This was not good, not good at all. What if Laurel wasn’t even home?

She turned around to leave; this had been a terrible idea. She had to just call first, make sure everything was good. She should’ve sent more updates. It had been almost 20 days since her last message. This was not something a good sister would do, she needed to do better, be better. She needed to take care of her own, she needed to-

“Sara?”

She turned around and Laurel was there. A confused look on her face that soon changed to a big smile when Laurel saw it was in fact her. Sara let out a relieved sigh and hugged her sister, hard.

“Hey, what’s up? Something wrong, Sara?”

“No, no, why would you say that?”

Sara took a step back from the hug to look Laurel over, subconsciously making sure she was not bruised or hurt. She was not, thank God. She looked healthy, even. Rosy cheeks, in good shape. Like she was thriving.

“Well, last I heard from you, you were in Brazil, and that was more than half a month ago. Now you’re here, without telling any of us that you were coming. And… No offense, Sara, but you don’t look so good.”

“That’s an asshole move, Laurel.” Sara said, with a laugh, and Laurel followed right after.

Her heart felt like it was gonna burst at that moment. It was so, so full of happiness, a happiness that felt so foreign to her now, like she hadn’t experienced it in so long. She was trying to revel in it, not think of why it felt foreign, because she knew that if she went down that road there was no coming back. She didn’t really _need_ to know, anyways. Her sister was here, alive and well. That was all that mattered.

“How is dad, by the way? He didn’t answer my last text. I’ve been worried about him.”

They slowly made their way into the apartment. Sara left her bags beside the couch and they both moved to the kitchen, Laurel putting some water to heat up so they could have some tea. Sara sat down on the chair closest to where Laurel was standing near the table, next to all her work papers.

“Well, you know how he is. I’ve been trying to get him to take better care of himself but… He works too much. And with the way the city is now…”

Sara frowned. “The city?”

“Yeah, there’s been this unusual spike in criminal activity here and in the surrounding areas, we are still not sure of what the hell is going on. But the FBI opened a new office here, just to look into this matter.”

“The FBI, huh? Star City is really outdoing itself on the criminality”

Laurel scoffed. “Yeah I guess so, unfortunately.”

“Then why isn’t the infamous Black Canary out tonight? I mean, it’d only make sense…”

“The FBI is closing in on us. They think we, the vigilantes, are part of the reason why there has been a criminality spike. I have no idea how or why they got to that conclusion, but they did. So we are laying low now, mostly. We only go out a few times a week. Oliver usually goes more often, but that’s cause he’s Oliver.”

“Yeah, we know how he tends to be.”

They both smiled at each other and Laurel went for the water. She quickly fixed a cup of tea for each of them. She gave Sara one of the cups and sat down across from her.

“So, tell me. What is going on? Why did you come back?”

So Sara told her. Everything. About how since she had arrived in Brazil her brain had gone haywire and she had no idea what the fuck was going on. She told Laurel about the dreams and the voices, the mismatched thoughts she kept having and, in great detail, she told her about her memories of the woman, Ava.  

Laurel listened to it all, silently, nodding at certain parts, paying very close attention to it all. Once Sara was done, Laurel took a deep breath and put her hand on top of Sara’s.

“I believe you.”

Sara let go of a breath that she didn’t even know she had been holding. It’s not that she thought Laurel wouldn’t believe her, but she wasn’t even sure herself if what she was going through made any sense. She didn’t know how many people could say that they experienced broken memories. But then again, she was not sure that many people could say they died and came back to life, and yet here she was.

“Good, good. I’m not even sure I believe it myself. Or understand it, to be more exact.”

Laurel squeezed her hand, quietly prompting her on. Sara sighed.

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Well… I think you should look for her.”

“I… What?”

“Yeah. I mean, you want answers, right? This woman, Ava, she probably has them.”

Sara bit her lower lip and then puckered them, nodding. That thought had crossed her mind, but hearing Laurel say it, had actually made it all suddenly seem so much clearer. Like it was obvious, like there was clearly no other option for her to follow other than this, other than going after her.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I probably should look for her.”

Laurel smiled and then got up.

“Good. Now that you got your life all figured out and you decided that you’re gonna stick around for a little while, I have something for you.”

“Something for me?”

“We can’t very well have two Black Canaries in the same city, now, can we? If you’re gonna stay you’re gonna need some new toys.”

Sara smiled and followed her, quite amused by the fact that her sister just assumed she was staying.

_Staying it is, then_.  

* * *

Sara looked at herself in the mirror. She was in the bathroom of the Arrow Team HQ, getting ready for her final mission with them. It had been a month since she arrived here, and it had been hectic. It had been a constant blur of new memories, vigilante work, helping her sister out, staying between Laurel’s place and her dad’s and constant research for the lost people in her memory. It had taken an entire month, but she was finally ready to get a move going on her plans, starting with her mystery woman.

It had been hard at first, with only the mental image of someone, general characteristics and a first name. But Felicity had helped her, they had made a virtual sketch of the woman by the characteristics Sara could remember, added the potential age and name, and ran it through every possible database Felicity could access and every facial recognition software. It had come back with 5 different hits, none of them looked much like the woman in her dream, if Sara had a say in it. But it was something to start with.

She finalized adjusting her White Canary suit – that was her new _superhero_ name now, apparently. She still had a bit of a problem with being called that – a superhero – she didn’t think the name really fit her. She wasn’t like any of the others there in the team, she wasn’t trying to save the world, sacrifice herself, stop this great evil from emerging or thinking of the greater good. She was just trying to figure herself out, find her place, figure where she fit, cause currently it felt like _nowhere_ was the safest bet.  

But she did feel like she had had a place in this other reality that was present in her head. Her heart still hurt a bit when she called Team Arrow “the team”. It felt wrong, out of place. And she was almost sure she knew why.

Her dreams had become more frequent, clearer too. She knew she had a team, and that they all lived together on some sort of talking spaceship. The part of the spaceship always gave her a pause, but the thing that she took the longest to come to terms with was not only the fact that she had a team, but that it was _her_ team. She was their leader, their _captain,_ if her newfound memories served her right. Who knew that her, Sara Lance, would not only have a place she fit in, but would make it her own, be an agent in it, a driving force for others?

It was all still extremely hazy, but some things she could remember. Like faces, and a few names. She knew there was someone named Zari, Gideon and Amaya. Gideon didn’t have a face, and Amaya apparently shared hers with someone else in her dreams. What she remembered of Zari, mostly, was her voice, a few broken sentences. She knew they all had been great friends.

Sara also knew Ray Palmer, tech mogul, was apparently in her team. He also was part of the Arrow Team at the moment, so it wasn’t hard to talk to him when he first showed up in her memories. He started talking nonstop once she brought it up, overcome with relief that he wasn’t the only one experiencing these glitches. He didn’t want to seem creepy or whatever by coming to her about this first, in case she had no idea what he was talking about. She smiled remembering it.

They now took to having coffee together at least once a week, telling each other about their memories, piecing them together bit by bit, to see if they would come up with a full picture that way. Ray also had a mystery woman of his own that he couldn’t find. They had helped each other through it all, but unlike Sara, his woman had absolutely no hits anywhere. So he decided to focus on finding the team, instead.

Sara admired him for that. She felt like a mess at every new memory she got from her Ava. She had to spend quite a few minutes just standing there, working through it, her emotions overwhelming her. She was quite sure they were this hard cause it was as if the original feelings that came with the experience were hitting her all at once, and she wasn’t really the best at dealing with heavy emotions at once.

But she had been trying, and her safety net that at the moment was made up mostly of her dad, Laurel and Ray, was really helping her through it all. She knew that other reality’s Sara Lance knew the importance of having people she cared about and that cared about her around her, but this Sara Lance was still learning. But she was a quick study, and she was trying her best.

She finalized her hair, having been wearing it down pretty much since she came back here. Her four year dilemma seemed to finally be solving itself, she guessed. Sara hoped it was some sort of sign that this was all gonna be over soon, whatever it was. She couldn’t wait to stop playing catch up with her own mind, to stop having these double sets of memories, to be constantly doubting her own thoughts. She couldn’t wait to be whole again.

So, here she was, her last mission in Star City for now.

She hoped they didn’t run into the FBI _again._ It had happened every single time she had joined the team and it was a total, fucking mess. She had almost been caught twice, Laurel too, cause she refused to leave Sara behind, and the rest of them at least twice as much. And they kept losing the criminals they were chasing every fucking time. It felt more like the feds were helping the criminals instead of helping them clean the streets.

The last time had happened almost a week ago. An FBI operative that apparently had been assigned to her, because she kept having to dodge them again and again, had tried to pull a gun on her, but Sara had been pulled away by Laurel just in time. It had been a close one, she had heard the blast of the shot a few seconds after she pulled out of the way. Laurel had hugged her hard, told her off for being so careless for close to ten minutes and benched her for the remainder of the week. Sara tried not to smile at it all, but just seeing her sister being so protective of her and them being able to share all these things as a vigilante duo was all Sara could’ve ever hoped for.

Felicity knocked on the door, letting her know that everyone had already gone out and only she was left in there. Sara gave her a small smile and a goodbye, kissing her cheek, put on her comm and left to her assigned part of the neighborhood they were in that night.

They were currently trying to dismantle a drug ring that had been operating out of this neighborhood; so, at the moment, they were all just waiting for something to give. Oliver and Felicity had already managed to get most of the proof they needed, but apparently the police needed to know their location to be able to catch them in the act. Just proof illegally obtained by a bunch of superheroes wasn’t enough.

So, she found herself now canvassing the streets from above a building, trying to find any suspect activity that could help them locate their base of operations. She had a nice view of the entire neighborhood from up there. She could see the FBI agents in their little black unmarked car, thinking themselves invisible. She scoffed. The feds always thought themselves so morally superior. If she could make them out from all the way up there, she knew that anyone who wanted to commit a crime would be able to tell just as well.

Some movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, however. A couple of buildings down, a few men seemed to be dragging a semi-conscious woman somewhere. She made her way down the building to a side alleyway, swiftly moving through the small spaces connecting buildings so she wouldn’t be seen. Before she could reach them, however, a scream echoed in the night air and she started to run.

As soon as she reached them, she took out the guy close to her by kicking his knee from behind, bringing him to the floor and then using the end of her staff to hit him on the head. He passed out quite quickly from that. The noise however, took the other guy out of whatever it was that he was doing, and next thing she knew, he came surging for her. She took a step to the side causing him to miss and run past her, while she was getting out her staff in case he had a weapon. It turned out to be the right move as he already had a knife drawn when he charged at her again. She used her staff to keep his arm away from her, stepping aside once again and kicking the inside of the knee that was closest to her. As he was going down, she used the momentum and quickly moved behind him, pinning her staff onto his throat and choking the man, just enough for him to pass out.

As soon as she let him fall down, the silence became deafening for a second. All she could hear was her blood pumping in her ears due to the adrenaline that was cursing through her veins right now. In a couple of breaths, however, she felt a bit more settled, and then she started to hear the whimpers. She followed them to find the woman hiding in a corner, knees to her chest, trying to hide herself as much as possible.

“Hey... You okay?”

Sara took a step closer to the woman and crouched, so she was at the same eye level as her. The woman nodded repeatedly, and offered her a shaky thank you.

“Do you have a place to go for the night? I know of a women’s shelter run by a friend a couple of blocks from here, I’m sure we can find a place for you there if you need.”

The woman nodded again and Sara slowly started to help her get up. She started explaining to the woman where the shelter was and that she’d watch her from above, but Sara was afraid she couldn’t be seen anywhere near it, especially not to put any of the women there in danger. Being near a vigilante was a dangerous business in this city now.

“STOP!”

Sara knew that voice. It had screamed the same at her a couple of times already. It was the FBI agent that was trying to stop them all from doing _good things_. She would really get it if they were killing people or whatever, but here she was, having just stopped a woman from being attacked and now she was about to go to jail. Fucking great.

Sara looked at the woman and slowly repeated the address of the shelter to her and told her to run and not look back, that she would be okay. The woman turned around and left.

“Put your hands behind your head and slowly turn around.”

The voice was way, way closer now. The fed was probably only a few steps away from her, and if she was quick enough and do something to draw their attention away from her, she was sure she’d be able to disarm them in no time.

As soon as she turned however, the adrenaline that had been slowly leaving her body came back full force, and she was sure her eyes were playing tricks on her. But the way the agent faltered, lowering her gun a bit, lip quivering, told her it was real.

“Ava?”

Sara tried, not even sure if it’d have any effect on the woman. She looked different from the memories Sara had. Her hair up in a tight bun, make up a bit darker than she was used to. She was not the woman with the long blonde hair and easy smile, she seemed hardened, unsure, confused, but her eyes… They were the same.

“Sara? You’re… You’re real? You’re not just something my mind came up with?”

Sara took a step closer to Ava and put her hand on top of the one that was holding the gun, slowly lowering it. Her heart felt as if it was about to jump right out of her mouth. She had this moment all planned out, what she was gonna say, what she was gonna do, but it all escaped her mind now, looking at Ava.

Particularly cause she had been imagining that once they met, it’d suddenly all make sense, she’d either get all her memories back or her mystery woman would have all the answers for her, but apparently neither of these were the case. Her mind was still just as foggy, and apparently so was Ava’s.

“I’m very real. And, if it helps, I thought my mind somehow came up with you, too.”

Sara took another step closer and raised her hand to touch Ava’s face, slowly enough that it’d give Ava more than enough time to stop her if she needed. But she didn’t. So Sara cupped her cheek, gently.

The moment they touched, it was as if some electrical current passed both of them, starting from where their skin met. If they still had any doubts that this -  whatever it was, this connection between them and these memories that seemed so out of place but so right - was not something made up, but something very real, they all but disappeared. It was as if they both had confirmation that it happened, that they both shared something. Sara would even go as far as to say that she had been waiting for Ava until this very moment. As if they belonged together. Ava closed her eyes for a second and leaned into Sara’s touch.

When she opened her eyes and their gazes met, Ava seemed a lot more certain than she did a second ago. Sara even dared a small smile, that was soon returned by her mystery woman.

“Do you… Do you know anything about what is going on with our minds, by any chance?”

“I don’t. But I’m very willing to find out. I mean, if you’re in. I hear we are a great team.”

Sara’s smile grew as she spoke, becoming more confident that Ava was feeling the same as her. She had no idea how exactly she knew, she just did, and right now, she chose not to think of it, she just followed her instincts.

Ava’s eyes were filling up with tears and a few were starting to spill, and Sara slowly cleaned them.

“Yes, I can’t wait to find out how great we are together."

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this story! I have a few other ideas that could come into play here if yall wanted: like another one shot telling this story from Ava's POV to explain things from her side, or maybe Sara and Ava dealing with things from now on now that they've both met and have all these mismatched memories and so on. But anyways, those are all just ideas, but I'd like to know what u all think!


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